Mad to Be Normal : Conversations with R. D. Laing Book

Mad to be Normal presents Laing's own words, about his workand about his life. It is the most complete record on Laing, by Laing. Entertaining, maddening, surprising, impressive, occasionally scurrilous, and evoking a compelling portrait of the heady and sometimes self-regarding mood of the 1960s and early 1970s, this book necessitates a reassessment of Laing and his work; work which is part of a lengthier and on-going process concerned with the routine care of those disturbed in mind.

'A series of very full interviews by a highly informed interviewer.' New York Review of Books

'This is presumably the closest a reader will ever get to Laing, the nearest to an autobiography. Read this book. It is how I imagine it must have been to talk to Ronnie Laing. It is that vital and that enlightening.' Mark Hinchcliffe, Asylum

'Mad to be Normal is a splendid contribution to the growing literature on the maverick Scottish psychoanalyst. For those unacquainted with Laing's life and times, this material is invaluable. Those who take a professional interest in it, also have much to learn.' Psychoanalytic Review